With more than two million page views and more than 4,500 items, this blog provides news and commentary on public policy, business and economic issues related to the $3 billion California stem cell agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM). David Jensen, a retired California newsman, has published this blog since January 2005. His email address is djensen@californiastemcellreport.com.

The grant reviewers, formally known as the Grants Working
Group, make the de facto decisions on all applications. The agency’s board has legal
authority to accept or reject applications, but has almost never rejected a
positive recommendation from its blue-ribbon scientific reviewers.

One change involving the scientific reviewers, all of whom
come from out-of-state, calls for them to exercise oversight on the progress of
the research and on “continued funding.” The reviewers would report their
findings to the full CIRM board or the agency’s president. That would be in
addition to CIRM staff monitoring and quarterly reviews by new panels of
advisors.

Another change in the review process calls for a patient
advocate member of the review group to be more actively involved in the review
of applications. One advocate would be asked for his or her views on an
application but would not score the application. All of the patient advocate
members of the review panel are also members of the agency board.

In addition to the seven members from the agency board,
including its chairman, each group of reviewers for a particular award round includes
15 scientists from outside California. They are drawn from a list of more than 100. Their financial and professional
interests are not disclosed to the public. Applicants are not notified which
researchers review their applications.

About Me

The California Stem Cell Report is the only nongovernmental website devoted solely to the $3 billion California stem cell agency. The report is published by David Jensen, who worked for 22 years for The Sacramento Bee in a variety of editing positions, including executive business editor and special projects editor. He was the primary editor on the 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning series, "The Monkey Wars" by Deborah Blum, which dealt with opposition to research on primates. Jensen served as a press aide in the 1974 campaign and first administration of Gov. Jerry Brown. (Time served: two years and one week.) He writes from his sailboat on the west coast of Mexico with occasional visits to land. Jensen began writing about the stem cell agency in 2005, noting that it is an unprecedented effort that uniquely combines big science, big business, big academia, big politics, religion, ethics and morality as well as life and death. The California Stem Cell Report has been identified as one of the best stem cell sites on the Internet. Its readership includes the media (both mainstream and science), a wide range of academic/research institutions globally, the NIH and California policy makers.